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| English: Štefan Konzul, croatian translator. (Photo credit: Wikipedia) |
Translator as "Bookfinder"
(This article has been published in Japanese in the March 2003 issue of "e-Trans" and posted as a "contribution" at "www.gotranslators.com")
Not to far in the past there was time, when the military used scouts,
sometimes also called "pathfinders" (Merriam Webster:
path.find.er n (1840): one that discovers a way; esp: one that explores
untraversed regions to mark out a new route -- path.find.ing n or adj.),
to find their way through unknown country. Literally, these were people that
could find a path not visible to anybody else. During a recent conference on
translation, a certain question appeared in several different sessions: what
actually is the job and/or function of a translator?
The answer to this question appears on first sight very simple and
obvious, but many of the attending translators and agencies presented widely
varying definitions and concepts. This motivated me to write this little article
and express an idea, I did have for quite a while now, but that so far failed to
find any resonance. I.e., translators should also (or maybe predominantly) be
"bookfinders" in analogy to the above mentioned pathfinders. Below I
will try to explain why.
I have been a translator for about 18 years and during this time spent
nearly 100% of my time with activities, involving rendition of a certain meaning
in one language into another. At times, in particular when the source text is of
rather poor quality and/or ambiguous, this also involves a more less significant
portion of re-writing or copy writing. Nevertheless, the basic idea is always
the same: change A into B. In my memory very few, if any, people I happened to
work with have ever questioned or even challenged this view. This is simply the
job and function of a translator.
Yet, if you are a translator in any specialized field, show a
professional interest in extending your horizons, or conduct a little research
in your own or other fields of expertise, then you will certainly do some
reading.
This puts the translator in a unique position. He or she is not only
capable of professionally handle and evaluate two or more languages, but will be
reading reference books on certain topics in these languages. Sometimes there
are equivalents or even translations of certain valuable references, but most
often not. Under these circumstances the translator is put in a position where
he or she can evaluate several books that might be worth translating from both a
linguistic and a technical point of view.
I believe that a look at the currently available selection of translated
books shows clearly, that the choices are certainly not always professional.
They are made by publishers based on information and recommendations of not
always certain origin. This provides the general population with a selection of
translated books influenced by a possibly one-sided and - naturally - profit
orientated choice made by the publishers. But this could also mean, that the
average man has access only to a distorted view of the world.
Today, the internet provides the so-called information highway, which
offers users so much information with an incredibly short turnover time that
nobody can ever handle. Yet, fast access to a terrifying amount of information
could also block the view for the more distinct, practical, comprehensive and
interesting information a book can provide. After all, reading should also be
fun.
Often access to the information highway is highly appreciated, but who
would like to live in a house with the front door opening right onto the
highway? I would prefer a little distance from it and like the quiet small back
roads. This is, where books come in. It takes much longer to publish a book than
to publish and then update a web site. Naturally this means, that books are
always somewhat "behind their time", but that does not reduce their
value.
For example, I am a native German living in Japan. I know of literally
"uncountable" translations of German literature, science etc.
available in Japanese bookstores. Yet, conversely, whenever I visit Germany and
look through large bookstores, I can find at best a handful translations of
Japanese books. A very illustrative little episode happened, when I visited the
annual Tokyo International Book Fair a few years ago. There I asked a German
publisher if they might be interested in the publication of translated Japanese
books. The representative at that booth said: "No, why? Publisher XXX
already has published two books." Of course, this is hardly any kind of
representation of a nation that publishes several tens of thousands of new books
every year!
Thus, in spite of the information highway and Japan being an economic
superpower with a major impact on the entire world, it still remains largely
uncharted territory (a sort of a black hole), because there is so little real
information about it available.
Now, here is a field, in which the translator can offer a real
contribution to international understanding: by selecting and recommending books
worth of translation. The translator who recommends certain books might even do
the entire translation. In many cases this would be not only be good for the
translator, but also the translation itself and the final reader.
Thus, because other countries are not really
looking, and Japan itself not actively providing
this information, Japan has been and apparently
still is